Raising the Style Quotient

CH&L: You repurposed, reused and reupholstered quite a few elements in this remodel, including the doors, the trim and some of the furniture, and yet you managed to add a major dose of style.

CH&L: You repurposed, reused and reupholstered quite a few elements in this remodel, including the doors, the trim and some of the furniture, and yet you managed to add a major dose of style.Tracie Schumacher: You know, sometimes people come in and say, “Let's take out all the doors, let's take out all the casings, let's eliminate everything.” With this client, we kind of picked and chose our changes. When you put all these pieces into the puzzle of cost, what's valuable and what's not valuable? I think it's just using your money correctly, where it's going to make a difference.

And what a difference a pattern can make!
Right. The patterns really made the place pop with some excitement. The client was so great. She was open to throwing pattern with pattern and just kind of going for it.

Let's talk about the living room. You've transformed this space—pardon my bluntness—from bland and beige to really bold and modern.

It was fun. We were thrifty. ... We found those two orange chairs at the thrift shop and had them reupholstered. There's a twig lamp in there that we also found at the thrift shop. We kept the antler table, which was the homeowners'. The only thing new in there that we bought was the sofa. I think we achieved a rich, sophisticated look, but we didn't spend a lot of money.

Tell me about the chandelier. It's an 1800s wagon wheel?
[The homeowner] showed me this Egyptian chandelier that she had seen in a magazine and she said: “I really love this. Do you think we could make something like this?”

I talked to my metalsmith. He lives up in Red Cliff, and he found this wagon wheel half-buried in the ground. So he pulled out this thing and cleaned it all up. He blew the glass and we made it into this chandelier. It just turned out beautifully.

Were you behind the kitchen renovation?
Yeah, I'm an interior architect, and then my interior design work is just on top of that. Before, the kitchen was like a big corral. So we really opened it up. We took out all the old cabinetry and redid the lighting. Those are concrete countertops. [The new cabinets] are clear alder, but we did a greenish paint with gray undertones so it made them this different kind of color.

I see that you also rolled up your sleeves and brought the master bathroom up-to-date.
The previous bathroom was more of a maze, so I opened it up. We did concrete countertops and Kohler fixtures. And we found Restoration Hardware mirrors and inexpensive light fixtures. [The homeowner] wanted a nice tub, so we chose a BainUltra tub so she could sit in there and soak. And then I brought in the bluish-grayish limestone for the floor.

Were the homeowners just astounded by the change?
The whole design project was just going to be window treatments. Now when you walk in, you say, “Gosh, I can't believe it went from that to this.”
I think we achieved our goal and they love it. They love it.